How many watts inverter for COB Light - 60W, 100W, 150W, 200W, 300W?

A

analogs

Well-known member
How many watts(normal and peak) pure sine wave inverter would you need for a COB light that is 200w or 300w - 120D, 300D, 300VL, 200VL, SL200, SL150, SL60W lights?

How is this calculated?

Also, would using a cigarette lighter connection be safe to use for the inverter, or it must be direct to battery after a certain wattage?

I tried using a phone charger through the cigarette lighter once and noticed that the cable and plug got extremely hot!

Thank you.
 
If a phone charger made the cable hot, I'd worry. Depending on the cable thickness - cables can get warm. thin cable can heat up with just a few amps.

The difficulty with COB lights is that the labels stuck on them often bear little resemblance to the current they consume. Many also have a very choppy current demand - as they hack up the mains waveform to produce DC. Some inverters that claim sine wave outputs have trouble with devices that have interesting power supply designs. You are probably better of getting a very big leisure battery - things used in motor homes, caravans and boats and a charger - then running your inverter from the battery and then float charging the battery. This is common in vehicles where the design of the leisure battery is for modest current for a long time, opposed to the high current sporadic demand of a normal car battery. I have a number of transmitters in my van - and the fuse to the cigarette lighter socket is too low a rating. However, even keeping the current demand lower than the fuse means the short adaptor cable I use gets damn hot and it's chunky!
 
Id say 2x so my inverter is 300w hard wired to my battery and runs one of my 150w panels fine.

My hard wiring has an easy change fuse in and I have box of fuses in the van.

random info.. The other day we tried lighter -> 200w inverter -> TB50 battery charger with no apparentl luck.

Hard wiring is good - mine was done by a mechanic for around $100. The simple inline fuse is invaluable.

In terms of inverters Id say the best way to evaluate them is to look at them.
plastic black box claims 500 and costs $20 err no!
Aluminium extrusion, loads of heatsinks $500, 300w.. that will actually work!
 
A cigarette lighter inverter isn’t going to cut it. In my early days, I had an inverter like that to try to charge batteries(A/B’s). It was constantly over heating and tripping.

If you seriously want to run lights/equipment from your vehicle power, get an installed unit with some power. I had a 2000W inverter installed probably 5-7 years ago with outdoor covered outlets and the control panel installed in the bed of my truck. It has saved me numerous times, when I needed to run HMI’s and other lights and equipment for live shots and there was no power around.

It was surprisingly affordable. I think at the time, it may have been around $500 plus the installation.
 
Are you talking about battery powered inverters like these? https://www.amazon.com/s?k=inverter+battery+jackery&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
I don't think inverters are a good solution as a primary source for high draw cob lights. They're inefficient making them a bad value $ per watt. The specs are hard to understand. 90watt/hrs are going to be less than a direct dc battery for a light. Results are unpredictable ranging from: it won't work, light limited to under 50%, low run time, gradually dim, or die unexpectedly. It's main benefit is it's flexibility. It can power any ac device, light, camera, mixer, monitor, etc. As a back up if any device ran out of power you could simply plug in. On the downside they're expensive, inefficient, and have unpredictable output.

Powering COBs in outdoors situations where you need lots of light to compete against the sun gets expensive.
 
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WHat will work and save $$ in exchange for extra mass is powering lights without an inverter.

For example if you have a light with a 24v input getting 2 12v car batteries in series will create 24v, high current, at a good $/w/hr rate.

Also RNG is IMO pushing it a little far. 2k will drain a typical auto battery in no time. 2k systems shoud run from 2-4 leasure batteries that are seperate from the main motor battery but are charged by vehcle power. Our other van has 3 (+1) batts and a couple of solar panels and is usually broken.

My 300w inverter hard wired to my van battery did not cost much and compared to being stuck in the dark a 150w panel or maybe 3 50w panels will get you a very long way. But it wont light q building or fight the sun.

My walkabout batteries are smartened and saftened a bit by using accuboxes, not top end smart but better than dragging bare batteries onto a set.
https://www.thecampercoshop.com/del...iM_tlKJfMZSy3v4k949ulzkdcPDgoI9oaAs2AEALw_wcB
 
Peter C. said:
Are you talking about battery powered inverters like these? https://www.amazon.com/s?k=inverter+battery+jackery&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
I don't think inverters are a good solution as a primary source for high draw cob lights. They're inefficient making them a bad value $ per watt. The specs are hard to understand. 90watt/hrs are going to be less than a direct dc battery for a light. Results are unpredictable ranging between: it won't work, the light output could be limited to under 50%, won't last long, gradually dim, or die unexpectedly. It's main benefit is it's flexibility. It can power any ac device, light, camera mixer, monitor, etc. As a back up if any device ran out of power you could simply plug it. On the downside they're expensive, inefficient, and have unpredictable output.

Powering COBs in outdoors situations where you need lots of light to compete against the sun gets expensive.
Click to expand...

He's talking about a power inverter that is hooked up to a vehicle.

morgan_moore said:
WHat will work and save $$ in exchange for extra mass is powering lights without an inverter.

For example if you have a light with a 24v input getting 2 12v car batteries in series will create 24v, high current, at a good $/w/hr rate.

Also RNG is IMO pushing it a little far. 2k will drain a typical auto battery in no time. 2k systems shoud run from 2-4 leasure batteries that are seperate from the main motor battery but are charged by vehcle power. Our other van has 3 (+1) batts and a couple of solar panels and is usually broken.

My 300w inverter hard wired to my van battery did not cost much and compared to being stuck in the dark a 150w panel or maybe 3 50w panels will get you a very long way. But it wont light q building or fight the sun.

My walkabout batteries are smartened and saftened a bit by using accuboxes, not top end smart but better than dragging bare batteries onto a set.
https://www.thecampercoshop.com/del...iM_tlKJfMZSy3v4k949ulzkdcPDgoI9oaAs2AEALw_wcB
Click to expand...

RNG leaves the vehicle running... ; ) In most general outdoor scenarios, you don't have to get too far away from the vehicle for its sound to blend away into the background.
 
Run&Gun said:
He's talking about a power inverter that is hooked up to a vehicle.
Click to expand...
I recently did a job and the client used a car inverter. We were able to power a portable amplified speakers system but it wouldn't run a small smoke machine. I guess if you're close enough to a car and have the time to buy and test it... Seems to me to power anything significant you couldn't use the cigarette lighter variety, you would need one that connected directly to the battery and a car that could handle the draw.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Q9W8SF...&pd_rd_r=2feb87ed-4d6a-47d4-881e-526bd558760d
 
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A rule of thumb in powering housing with generators and inverters for long duration is ~80% of the inverter's rating... so if you have ~1000W of lights, you'll want a ~1200W inverter to handle them.

For any draw over maybe a phone or computer charger (~100W), connect straight to battery. I have a marine deep cycle in a case for this purpose, and have run more than a few 3-light interviews (one with a prompter) away from vehicles or mains power with the setup.

Figuring out how long any given battery will last or what's safe to run on a fused circuit is a simple equation of Volts * Amps = Watts. A 300W draw at 120V pulls 2.5A on the circuit. A 300W draw at 12V pulls 25A on the circuit. Stay under ~80% of the fuse rating on your amp draw and you won't blow fuses.
 
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morgan_moore said:
Leave your vehicle running in the UK and someone will have it.
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Not my first rodeo... Do they not have "remote start" systems over there? I can leave my truck running via "remote start"(I actually have a system that I can activate while the vehicle is already running) for an hour from activation before recycling the sequence. No key in the ignition. And if you step on the brake pedal while the engine is running under this mode without the key in the ignition and turned ON, it automatically kills the engine.

Semi related: in certain places here, it is illegal to leave a vehicle running and unattended with the keys in the ignition.
 
There is a couple of pure sine wave car inverters online that state to be 1000W normal and 2000W peak that uses the Cigarette Lighter Socket and then there are the 2000W Normal/4000W Peak that has lugs to directly attach it to the battery. These were the models I was considering.

I would be using it with the car running most settings as not to drain the battery.

I was thinking for one 200W light, the 1000W/2000W would be sufficient but was concerned about the Cigarette Lighter power connection. I could use V-mount batteries for the smaller lights and then use the inverter for the other light.

Thank you all for your responses!
 
RnG
Most vehicles here have keys - nothing fancy. And yes “quitting” the vehicle is illegal as you are not in full control.
 
My truck has a key, too(and must be actually inserted into the ignition switch to drive it). But I also have a remote start system. Both factory and aftermarket(as part of my aftermarket alarm and tracking system)(the factory system is great/fine here at home in close proximity, but for longer distances like when you're parked at a hotel, etc. and or when you need longer runtimes over 15 mins, you need an aftermarket system with long range and even cell capabilities). Aftermarket remote start systems are available (here) pretty affordably. And in my case, it provides not only creature comfort use, but also necessary utility/function for work/business.
 
Run&Gun said:
My truck has a key, too(and must be actually inserted into the ignition switch to drive it). But I also have a remote start system. Both factory and aftermarket(as part of my aftermarket alarm and tracking system)(the factory system is great/fine here at home in close proximity, but for longer distances like when you're parked at a hotel, etc. and or when you need longer runtimes over 15 mins, you need an aftermarket system with long range and even cell capabilities). Aftermarket remote start systems are available (here) pretty affordably. And in my case, it provides not only creature comfort use, but also necessary utility/function for work/business.
Click to expand...
I had a bad experiences with remote starters. I bought nearly new car at a discount. Turned out the previous owner had a remote starter installed which randomly would cause the car to go dead. After paying the dealership to remove it, the car has never had problem.

On topic to OP: If you value and depend on your car I would be careful attaching electrical devices of this nature. Cigarette lighter is not designed for high draw applications.
 
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